Initiative
by pathomythic
Summary: When Marian sets her mind on something, she will see it through. AU, set after 2x11
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Marian found the room in shambles already. A chair had fallen down, a goblet and broken bits of ceramic were scattered on the floor, and the tapestry lay in a bundle at the foot of the wall it was meant to cover. It must have had been an arduous five paces walk from the door to the bed for Guy of Gisborne.

Guy was half-lying over the bedcovers, his legs dangling out and one of his boots was missing. He had clearly tried to remove his jacket but only one of the clasps was undone revealing the black undershirt. His head was caught in an uncomfortable angle. Marian smiled. He was clearly very unconscious.

This was of course her doing. It had been the easiest thing to slip an herbal concoction in the wine jug. He had even smiled at her while she'd served it to him at dinner. Marian was surprised he made it all the way to Locksley as he had had three cups of the laced wine; she'd thought she'd find him sprawled in a roadside ditch. It was with a great reluctance that she hoisted his heavy body fully on the bed. He probably deserved worse than just a hangover and a stiff neck.

Marian took her time going through every nook and cranny of the room, every box and chest. Her findings included three more black undershirts and a tattered grey one (she was exceedingly glad for the servants' efficiency that explained the absence of dirty underwrappings). Marian even discovered his formal leather tunic soaking in grease underneath the stack of well-oiled and cared-for weaponry. The box containing Guy's fortune—considerably smaller since last time—she explored with more diligence but she still didn't find a trace of any kind of paper and certainly didn't find the important dispatch Marian knew Sir Guy of Gisborne had in his possession.

Annoyed, she hovered in the middle of the room, looking at the mess of it in the half-light of the candelabra. The situation appeared to require Guy's willing aid and it did not sit well with her. There was no way she could predict the quick-tempered man's reaction when faced with Marian the Nightwatchman holding a knife to his throat and asking him to hand over secret documents.

She stared accusingly at the long form that slumbered so oblivious to her endeavours. He made for a strange sight with one boot off, his brow relaxed, completely immobile and for once completely unobtrusive. An idea struck her and Marian went down on her knees looking for his discarded boot. Sometimes, she knew, people put things in the strangest places. But to her disappointment the boot was empty. She had just begun contemplating removing the other one when Guy stirred.

Marian hastily got on her feet. She watched him drag a hand up to his frowning brow, eyes still shut and then bracing his arms to slowly lift his body into a sitting position. He raised himself to his full height and opened his eyes. He saw her. Promptly he fell back on the mattress.

"Marian," he stretched the syllables of her name into a pained moan. "What the-- My head."

"I suggest you lie back down again. You won't be able to walk for a little while longer," Marian said with bravado she very much felt.

He squinted at her, perhaps realising what she was wearing before turning away from the light of the candles. "What have you done?" His voice though hoarse did not falter this time.

"I spiked your wine. I want something from you."

He tried to stand up again and failed. His eyes widened and he turned away gagging. Marian heard him belch. A self-satisfied smile tugged at her lips as he was getting his bearings. "You've drugged me?"

"Save your strength, that was a rather strong draught I gave you." Guy was helpless as a babe and Marian had never been in such a position of power over him before. A heady rush coursed through her, a sensation that had always been absent when she had dealt with Guy in the past. This weak-bodied, dizzy man for the first time in her life could not hurt her and it was invigorating.

"I told you the Nightwatchman business was over. What the devil are you doing?" he said gruffly.

"I saw Sir Jasper arrive yesterday morning. He brought orders—a letter. The sheriff was furious."

"It doesn't concern you."

"It does! I am not just another ignorant noblewoman and I care for what happens in my own country!" She saw Guy flinch at the volume of her voice and took a deep calming breath. "The sheriff gave you the letter. It had the royal seal on it." Vasey had in fact thrown it at him and then ordered for a passing and probably innocent guard to be whipped. "Vasey obviously doesn't want to follow the orders. I want that letter."

"You are a fool to think I'd give it to you. I would be a fool to give it to you," he spat. "Leave now and perhaps I'll forget about this incident."

Marian hadn't thought that words would be enough to convince him. She'd come prepared.

"You don't understand, do you Guy. I am done relying to your good will," she said and to prove her point she unsheathed her knife.

He turned white with anger. "You won't kill me."

"Try me."

Guy tried to stand for the third time. He was angry enough to do it, Marian thought with some trepidation. He put his two feet on the floor and pushed. He stood straight and the candlelight deepened the scowl on his face as he stared her down. Then suddenly his knees buckled and he crumbled back on the bed.

"The room is spinning," he mumbled.

The fight seemed to leave him entirely. He shifted warily until he lay properly, dropping his head on the pillow and covering his face.

He laughed. "If you're doing this to be with Hood you should think again."

"I'm going to take it to Robin if that's what you're asking. The rest is no business of yours," she said moving closer to the bed. The exhilaration had abandoned her as well. She put the knife back in its sheath as she didn't think she'd need it very soon.

"If he wants it, let him come get it himself. He shouldn't have you running his errands," he said managing some force in his voice.

"He doesn't know," she offered for no reason she could think of.

"Damnation Marian, you're working alone? At least he has a herd of peasants he can count on."

"I can work perfectly well by myself as I have done for the last six years. Where is the letter?"

He laughed again, a low rumble that Marian could feel under her skin. "Locksley knows."

"How do you mean?" she said in confusion.

"This is--was his house. He knows every hiding place there is." Marian for a moment considered the fact that the drug had addled his brains.

"You want me to tell Robin to come here and look for the letter himself, where you'll have obviously set up a trap for him. I'm not stupid Guy."

"If you weren't you wouldn't be sitting on my bed right now with twenty men standing guard all around us."

She had stopped thinking he would ever call them by now. "I could still kill you before they came within fifty paces of me," she spoke quietly, eyes locked on his face waiting for his reaction. His eyes glinted icy blue on his sombre countenance, he didn't show fear or anger. Marian knew that he knew she didn't mean it. She looked away first, at the square of grey sky just beginning to dawn, angry at herself. It wasn't fair, not fair at all.

"Robin of Locksley is a clever man. I bet he could slip away from any trap I might have set up for him," he persisted.

"You're absurd," she scoffed. "The letter. Tell me where it is or I swear I will tie you down and tear the entire room apart while you watch."

"Enough!" he yelled. "That letter concerns Robin and you are not to have anything to do with it."

Marian saw he was serious. She eyed the red brocade drapes hanging from the bedposts thinking it would make good strong rope. She took out her knife again and smiled at Guy's alarmed look.

"For God's sake, Marian! I am a being honest. It is only a royal pardon for Hood. He can live without it for some time, and you have to leave before you're found."

"A royal pardon!" She was thrilled. This was the most important news she had heard the entire year. It had been a wrong move from Guy to tell her this and she saw he realised it.

"Fuck!" he yelled when she stood and ripped the nearest drape off its hinges. Marian began slashing it into strips. "It's dawn already you stubborn woman, you will be heard. Someone's bound to listen to the racket."

"You are worried for my sake. I am touched," she replied, eyes at the task in hand.

"Run."

"What?"

"Marian, run."

Marian resumed her work. There was no time to waste; the after-effects of the draught would only last so long.

"GUARDS!"


	2. Chapter 2

"GUARDS!"

Marian jumped, shocked. "Guy!"

"You left me no choice," he said stone-faced. Marian was angry enough to spit. She would not leave until she'd done what she'd come to do. So she took a chance.

"What are you waiting for? Leave!" Guy said, and sat up pressing his stomach.

His eyes grew large as she started removing her clothes. First the mask and scarf around her throat, the cloak and the green waistcoat, then the tight-fitting undershirt, her boots and then her riding trousers, leaving on her thin white shift that left her arms bare and ended just over her thighs. Guy was still staring. She took that as another assurance.

"You're mad."

"Not unlikely," she retorted and kicked her clothes and shredded curtain under the bed. She tore the bedclothes from under him and climbed into bed. She could hear heavy steps running on the wooden floor of the hall downstairs. "It's all up to you now Guy. You can tell them exactly what I'm doing here or you can let the world think you've finally bedded me."

They were close enough for Marian to hear steel rasping out of its scabbard.

"Fuck!" He was repeating himself. She smiled for her first true victory. He motioned at her to help cover him up and hide the fact he was still dressed.

The door slammed opened and three guards rushed in, their swords drawn. Marian was leaning on Guy, her head and arm hastily pillowed on his shoulder over the coverlet that concealed him head-to-toe.

"Milord?" the middle one said. Marian didn't think the others could speak from astonishment.

"Water to drink," Guy ordered, his fierce frown daring them to ask about the chaos of the bedchamber.

"Is that all milord?" the same guard asked tentatively.

Marian whispered in Guy's ear taking the time to breathe him in and he turned a questioning eyebrow towards her. "And some apples."

"Very well. As you will, sire."

Guy nodded at them. "You can go."

The guards relaxed their stance and put their swords away as they turned heel and left, closing the door behind them. Having waited for it, Marian heard a faint chuckle as they descended the stairs clinking and shuffling.

"Apples?" Guy asked.

"For your stomach," she replied. Marian could have sworn he blushed.

They sat in silence waiting for the guards to return with the order. It was one of the most awkward moments in Marian's life. She resisted the urge to squirm and began tapping her fingers instead. After awhile it registered she was tapping Guy's chest. He was very still and his eyes—rarely so dark—were very focused on her.

"Sorry," she said sheepish. "Can you feel that under all the padding?"

He nodded and Marian still caught in his gaze felt her heart jump in her chest. She was thankful for the servant's interruption. The girl placed a jug and a woven basket of apples on the tall shelf that was fixed on the wall, curtsied and left.

Guy was the first to throw off the covers but just sat clutching his head. "Don't get up yet!" Marian said and rushed to get him some water.

She looked around for a cup, careful of the shards. The fact that she couldn't find one in the mess flustered her. After all the incidents of the night this one little thing had made her feel self-conscious. It was not to be allowed. A deep steadying breath later and Marian remembered there had been a goblet and she only had to find it. It had rolled under the tapestry; she picked it up getting clay debris stuck on her palms in the process and seeing as it smelled clean she filled it up. An apple in one hand and the goblet in the other she went back to Guy.

He took them but didn't move to make use of either. "Well?" Marian prodded looking down at the crown of black hair.

He lifted his head up and up—and all the while, Marian realised, his eyes were roaming over her body slowly taking in the expanse of bared leg and whatever detail was apparent through the too thin white shift—until he met her stare. She flushed. "Thank you," he said and his voice was hoarse enough to justify the hasty gulp of water he took.

Marian sat down next to him, covered her self with the sheet and waited until he was done. "Feeling better?"

Guy stood without stumbling and opened his arms as if to say "Here's you answer." She was back to having the physical disadvantage yet it had ceased to matter; he wouldn't hurt her.

"So what are you going to do now?"

"I can ask you for that pardon very, very nicely."

He snorted, amused. Perhaps, Marian reasoned, her playful smile had reduced the gravity of her words.

"Admit it Marian, you have no leverage to bear on me now."

It was a challenge. Marian threw off the sheet and approached him. She stood so close to him that she had to tilt her neck to face him but he was watching her raptly as she slid her hands up to his shoulders. So their second ever full-on, open mouthed kiss Marian initiated to prove a point but its original purpose was soon forgot because the caresses of his lips and his tongue and his arms around her were hot, demanding, thrilling, overwhelming.

Guy's scent was sweat and leather, and Marian found that he smelled like a sort of out-of-reach comfort. His stubbled chin had rubbed a path down to her throat he soothed with a skilled tongue and she found the hollow right over his collarbone she wanted to explore; when he gripped sensitive flesh, not covered in cloth to act as buffer, startling her. She sunk her teeth in that soft spot she had been tasting and he pulled back with a hiss.

He must have had seen the hesitation in her eyes because in a flash his features formed a scowl.

"Congratulations, you've presented a foolproof argument," he growled letting her go abruptly. "Though I thought it was obvious how I feel for you."

"You haven't been paying attention. Apparently I have as much leverage on you as you have on me," Marian said annoyed.

"You bit me!"

"It was a reflex. The arse-grabbing was rather sudden."

Marian could have sworn she saw his lips twitch. There was a moment of silence and she decided it was up to her to break it. "Do you think we can try again?"

That was all the encouragement he needed because in the space of a breath she found herself enveloped in him again and tingling. Guy seemed content to not pushing the limits this time, his hands brushing against the sides of her breasts, lightly skimming between her shoulder blades in a way that made her shiver.

The situation was unbearably unjust. Guy's choice of attire had never bothered Marian so much as that instant for hindering her immediate contact with more of him. She yanked his jacket from under the belt to touch skin but the fit was simply too constrictive and her fingers got tangled in his shirt.

"Fuck!" she cursed using his expletive. Marian barely noticed his snort as she pulled back and began working on the clasps furiously. His fingers kept caressing her neck, tracing down to the edging of her collar and up and down again. It was maddening.

"Just do it already!" she snapped and as she was about to get the damn jacket off he spun pulling her along and they were falling and the mattress was there beneath them. She never ever noticed they had been moving towards it but she didn't care because her legs were around him and the friction the shuffling caused was the most important thing in the world.

The jacket was removed at last, the shirt and belt also. Guy paused and Marian felt the movement of his legs as he was trying to kick off the boot from under her. It didn't work, and he had to lift her off his lap even as there was blatant proof he did not want to, and he leaned down and pulled it off.

Marian laughed remembering she had wanted that boot earlier. Guy now busy with the lacings of his breeches glanced back to enquire, "What?"

"Nothing," she murmured and slid her arms around him enjoying the feel of her breasts pressed on his hard back. She couldn't help comparing it to Robin's. Where Guy's back was wide and solid, etched in supple muscle, Robin's was wiry and sharp-edged with bones.

She slipped a hand inside the loosened waistband, eliciting a groan from him. He put his hand over hers to guide her work on his hard length but she didn't need the assistance.

"You've done this before," he said in a low voice, pausing. She slowed down and nodded against him. There was no way of knowing how he'd respond to that information but to her surprise Guy twisted around and kissed her more zealously than before stealing her breath. With some irritation she grazed his back with her nails; she did not want to be included in their competition. Yet he palmed her breasts, teasing her nipples through the fabric and she forgave him.

Too soon he left her to remove his breeches. She shrugged off her shift as well and both stared at each other's nakedness. Marian was very aware of the sunlight streaming through the window, leaving no room for secrets and shadows. She admired his strong body, saw how pale it was from being concealed neck-to-toe all the time, lingered over his flushed red erection, watched his thigh muscles flex as he climbed back on the bed, and loved the longing admiring expression on his face when he looked at her.

They locked lips again and Marian reclaimed her position on his lap. She held on his soft black hair for support as he mouthed one nipple into attention and then the other and she bit back a cry as his hand that had sneaked between her thighs began building those burning wonderful sensations.

It was becoming difficult to draw air in her lungs. She lifted Guy's head up to hers and traced the path of tickling hairs from his chest down to his hardness, massaging it. She swallowed his groan and they both stopped everything else, resting their heads on each other's shoulders as their hands worked in tandem, occasionally bumping knuckles.

"Marian! Stop!" he said in a rough voice holding her still. He lowered her back on the bed; Marian felt his loss only for a little while and then he was pushing slickly inside her. The build-up resumed as he drove in and out, reached desperate levels with the help of his skilled fingers. She tried to hold on to him but her fingers were slipping on his sweaty back, she tightened her knees around him and waited for the world to end. She came long and deep and sharp unable to contain her cry.

He followed soon after, shuddering and gasping, and slumped on top of her. She had to push him off but as the sweat dried from her body she drew near him and he obliged by putting his arm around her. He kissed her forehead as it rested on his chest and Marian felt him drift off.

It was decidedly quite similar a situation as the one she had been in the night before; Guy was sleeping and Marian had his chamber all to her own. She got up, not without reluctance, dressed, had an apple and contemplated the consequences of what she'd done as usual too late.

There was a pang of guilt, and doubt; he hadn't said he would give her the letter and she didn't know if she could use force. It was not to be allowed. So she went over and shook him awake.

"Wake up," she said determined. She saw a smile flickering on his lips which vanished as soon as he looked at her.

"Leaving already?" he said scowling.

Marian rolled her eyes. "No. I was jus-- It was just something to do," she said.

She shook him again needing to get him to listen. "Guy, you are going to give me that letter aren't you?"

He drew an impatient breath, sat up and turned facing the bed head still in the nude. The bed head was a thick, arch-shaped pane of oak engraved with a pattern of leaves, and where the peak formed a square was the bow-and-arrow emblem that could be found in every house in Locksley. Marian watched astonished as Guy put his hands on the top square and pulled. It came off like a lid and he stuck his hand in what certainly was a secret compartment.

"There," he said revealing a roll of papers and handing it over. "Are you happy?"

Marian was elated and only a small part of it was for Robin's sake.

"These are recent," he said as she perused lists of assets, orders with the seal of the Chancellor, letters from barons and evaluations from tax inspectors. "Orders not followed, tax money not delivered and blamed on Robin, things that Prince John will interpret to be undermining his authority."

"Guy this is wonderful news!" she said, heart soaring. "If Vasey has been plotting against the Prince he will fall out of favour, perhaps even be tried for treason." Marian grabbed his face and kissed him. He was still naked and seemed to want her to get naked too when the door swung open.

"Hey Giz," said Allan a Dale with a lopsided grin on his face. "You ain't goin' to believe wot they're saying down at the vi-- Bloody hell! Marian!" For all that Marian jumped on her feet it was too late.

"I told you to knock, fool!" Guy seethed.

"Why for? Nofing I 'aven't seen before," Allan quipped, eyebrows still raised in incredulity. Guy did not move to cover himself, Marian noticed.

"So what happened?" he asked.

"Oh right, I delivered that message like you told me to," Allan said grabbing an apple. "You know, it's all over the village about you two lovebirds. Seriously Guy, your guards: worse than ten Sally Tongues combined when gossipin' is involved."

"It's her fault," Guy grumbled. Marian rolled her eyes.

"It worked didn't it?" she told him smugly.

"Like a charm," came the reply from the window. Marian swirled in shock to find Robin Hood crouched on the windowsill watching them with dangerous eyes. "Well Gisborne, you said you wanted to see me."

The End


End file.
